THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal play Real Madrid in Madrid on Tuesday evening in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final to be played at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano. The Gunners topped their group with a dramatic 3-2 victory at home to Bayern Munich on match day six and, in doing so, avoided the likes of Barcelona and Chelsea in the quarter-finals.
Madrid are perennial bridesmaids in Spain, underlings to the dominance of Barcelona in Liga F. While Arsenal will enter the tie as favourites, it goes without saying that there are no weak teams in the knockout stage of the Champions League and Manchester City have twice been eliminated from the preliminary phase by Madrid in recent years.
However, Arsenal will be aware that some performances have slowed up a little since the February international break, after a comeback win against West Ham and a disappointing cup exit at home to Liverpool. My own view is that the dry, bumpy Meadow Park pitch had a hand to play in both games and when Arsenal travelled to Everton to play on the lesser used Walton Hall Park, they looked themselves again.
There remains the feeling that the Arsenal squad lacks a little power and a little height in places, though Real Madrid do not play like Liverpool or West Ham. While they have plenty of speed, this will be a more technical game which should be more towards Arsenal’s qualities as they seek to tee up the second leg at Emirates Stadium next Wednesday.
TEAM NEWS
Daphne van Domselaar is still unavailable due to concussion, but Emily Fox will be fit after going off with a bruised foot against Everton. Lotte Wubben-Moy is still out with a muscle injury but Laia Codina returns. Chloe Kelly, Jenna Nighswonger and Amanda Ilestedt are all added to the UWCL squad list for the knockout phases.
Available squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 8.Mariona 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius
A WORD FROM THE BOSS
They’re a very strong collective. I think they have a strong identity, they look disciplined in their game both in and out of possession. And I think they have some key threats with a couple of individuals in the team that we really want to try and and stop tomorrow.
They’re a top team and they will want to come back from those recent performances, I think Barcelona Real Madrid is always going to be a tough game for both teams. I think they they made some changes last Saturday against Deportivo and they’re probably not happy with the two points lost so I’m guessing they will be determined and trying to come out in their home arena to do their best.
We can’t think about that because it’s not within our control and we don’t want to underestimate anything so we’re very humble for the task, but at the same time we also feel confident about who we are and what football we can play.
THE OPPOSITION
Much like Manchester United, Real Madrid have not had an official women’s team for very long. After club president Florentino Perez resisted pressure to create a women’s team, he acquiesced in 2019 and Madrid overtook Segunda Division side TACON. There was a transition season in 2019-20 when they played under the name Ciudad Real Madrid before the full transition happened in 2020-21.
Madrid signed players like Kosavore Asllani and Sofia Jakobsson, now both at London City Lionesses, as well as Brazilian midfielder Thaisa. They have since established themselves as the second best club in Spain and boast Spanish national team talent like Misa Rodriguez in goal, Teresa Abelleira in midfield, who sadly ruptured her ACL recently, Athenea del Castillo and Olga Carmona, who scored the winning goal in the 2023 World Cup Final.
In attack, they also possess one of the great young talents in women’s football in Colombian Linda Caicedo, as well as former Gunner Caroline Weir. While Madrid have struggled to lay a glove on Barca, they still have a lot of quality. Arsenal have shown interest in striker Signe Bruun in the past as well as French forward Naomie Feller.
LAST TIME OUT
The two teams have never played one another. Last season, Arsenal were knocked out in the first qualifying round while Real Madrid were eliminated from their group featuring Valarenga, Chelsea, Hacken and Paris FC so both teams have improved on last season in the UWCL. Real finished runners-up in their group featuring Sporting, Chelsea and Celtic, while Arsenal topped a group featuring Bayern Munich, Juventus and Valarenga.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Madrid really commit their left-back Olga Carmona to the attack (as Arsenal do with Katie McCabe) so Madrid’s left side could be a key space for Arsenal to attack. In their most recent game against Barcelona, Madrid played a 4411 with Fillipa Angeldahl playing on the left to protect that space with Athenea del Castillo given a freer role upfront.
Madrid might be inclined to do something similar here but when Carmona attacks, there should be opportunities for Arsenal to break into that space. On Friday evening, Beth Mead had an assist and created 0.8XAG in just 30 minutes as the Gunners targeted the Toffees left side. That might be enough to win her place from the start in this game.
Mead is also super diligent at tracking back because Arsenal will have to reckon with Carmona’s forays forwards and her combinations with Athenea, who is an accomplished dribbler. I fancy Mead to start this game due to a combination of her defensive diligence and her creative performance from the bench against Everton on Friday.
PREDICTED LINE UPS
Subs: 5.L.Codina 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 18.Kelly 21.Pelova 22.Nighswonger 25.Blackstenius 28.Ilestedt 40.Williams 62.Reid
HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The game takes place at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano and kicks off at 5.45pm UK time, the match will be broadcast on DAZN and DAZN Women’s Football YouTube, as well as TNT Sports in the UK.
COMING UP
Due to scheduling issues, Jamie and I could not record a post Everton pod but we will record a post Madrid pod on our returns from Spain on Wednesday evening. We will have every word of Renee Slegers’ post-match press conference as well as some player quotes post match too, typically on the site around one hour after full-time.